Road grader with tiltable wheels



Feb. 27, 1951 E. c. GLEDHILL ROAD GRADER WITH TILTABLE WHEELS 4Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Oct. 22, 1948 Feb. 27, 1951 Q D 2,543,285

ROAD GRADER WITH TILTABLE WHEELS Filed Oct. 22, 1948 4 Sheets-Sheet 22166 26372 Z'ZZ Feb. 27, 1951 E. c. GLEDHILL ROAD GRADER WITH TILTABLEWHEELS 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Oct. 22, 1948 56676572 Z'ZZ Feb. 27, 1951E. c. GLEDHILL 2,543,285

ROAD GRADER WITH TILTABLE WHEELS Filed Oct. 22, 1948 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 /Mk i\ N 5/ 50 31m 7? 7/2 Baa- 230, 711

MQ M Patented Feb. 27, 1951 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 1 Claim.

This invention relates to road graders of the V leaning wheel type.

An object of this invention is to provide in a road grader an improvedaxle having oppositely inclined wheel spindles fixed to the outer endsthereof, the axle being rotatably adjustable so that the angle ofinclination can be varied while the machine is in motion.

Another object of this invention is to provide in a road grader animproved axle structure embodying oppositely inclined spindles fixed tothe outer ends thereof, and an operator for each axle whereby the lattermay be rotatably adjusted while the machine is either stationary ormoving.

With a road grader embodying this invention the wheels can be tilted ina direction to take up the side thrust, and/or turned with th samecontrols so that the front wheels of the grader will move to andmaintain an offset position from the tractor pulling the grader so thatthe tractor element may be maintained on hard ground with the gradermoving over the soft ground being graded which may be either level orinclined relative to the hard surface, and that the rear wheels of thegrader can be offset from the front wheels of the grader So that theserear wheels can be turned to avoid running into the outer bank or thewindrow being formed by the trailing edge of the grader blade.

With the above and other objects in view, my invention consists in thearrangement, combination and details of construction disclosed in thedrawin s and specification, and then more particularly pointed out inthe appended claim.

In the drawings,

Figure 1 is a detail side elevation, partly broken away and in section,of a road grader constructed accordin to an embodiment of thisinvention,

Figure 2 is a fragmentary front elevation of the device,

Figure 3 is a fragmentary sectional view taken on the line 33 of Figure2,

Figure 4 is a fragmentary sectional view taken on the line 4-4 of Figure2,

Figure 5 is a fragmentary vertical section of the rear portion of thisdevice,

Figure 6 is a detail front elevation, partly broken away and in section,of one of the axles,

Figure 7 is a plan view of the axles shown in Figure 6 with the wormgear removed,

Figure 8 is a fragmentary sectional view taken on the line 88 of Figure5,

Figure 9 is a fragmentary sectional view taken substantially on the line9-9 of Figure 3,

Figure 10 is a fragmentary sectional view taken on the line l0-|0 ofFigure 3,

Figure 11 is a fragmentary sectional view taken on the line I II l ofFigure 10,

Figure 12 is a fragmentary sectional view taken on the line I2-l2 ofFigure 1,

Figure 13 is a fragmentary sectional view taken on the line l3-l 3 ofFigure 12,

Figure 14 is a fragmentary front elevation, partly in section, and on anenlarged scale, of the bearing supporting the front axle.

Referrin to the drawings, the numeral 20 designates generally a framestructure for a road grader which is formed with an intermediate bodyportion 2|, a downwardly offset front portion 22, and a downwardlyoffset rear portion 23. The rear portion 23 is offset downwardly asubstantial distance from the front portion 22.

A scraper blade 24 is adjustably supported from the frame 20, beingmounted on a vertically adjustable supporting means 25, and the blade 24is adapted to be adjusted not only up and down but also angularly, withrespect to the line of travel. A front axle 26 is disposed at the frontportion of the frame and in the present instance the front axle 26 issquare in cross section and is formed with round intermediate portions21 about which detachable bearings 28 are adapted to engage.

The bearings 28 include an upper bearing member 29 and a lower or capbearing member 30 with the bearing members 29 and 33 secured together byfastening means 3i. Ihe upper bearing member 28 is formed with anupwardly and inwardly inclined arm 32 to which the divergent side 33 ofa substantially V-shaped bolster 33b is adapted to be secured byfastening means 34.

The bolster 33b is formed with a horizontal or flat upper portion 35 towhich is secured a fifth wheel 36 engageable with a bearing plate 3!which is fixed to the forward end of the frame 20. The bolster 331; alsohas fixed to the horizontal portion 35 thereof a hollow stud or pivotmember 33 and the pivot member 38 has a nut 38 mounted on the upper endthereof.

The frame 26 also has secured to the rear thereof a rear axle 48 whichis similar to the front axle 2B and is journaled to the frame 20 bybearings ii. The two axles 26 and 46 are of like construction and eachhas secured to the opposite ends thereof a pair of parallel spindles 42which are inclined to the longitudinal axis of the axle 26 and areoppositely inclined to each other.

The spindle 42 has fixed thereto a pair of plates 43 and the plates 43are fixed to the axle 26 by means of fastening members 44. The frontaxle 26 has mounted thereon a worm gear 45 which is disposed insubstantially the center of the axle between the ends thereof, the wormgear 45 being formed with a square or polygonal bore 46 so that the wormgear will be non-rotatable with respect to the axle 26.

A worm 41 is adapted to mesh with the worm gear 45 and the worm 4'! hasfixed thereto a shaft 48 which is connected with a vertical shaft 49extending through the pivot member 38 by means of a universal joint 59.The vertical shaft 49 is connected with an inclined extensible shaft bymeans of a universal joint 52 and the extensible shaft 5| which isinclined upwardly and rearwardly is connected to an operating shaft orrod 53 by means of a universal joint 54. The rod or shaft 53 isjournaled in the bearing 55 supported from the frame 26 by supportingbars 56. The worm gear 45 and the worm 41 are encased or enclosed in asplit housing generally designated as 51 which is formed of upper andlower complementary housing members 58 and 59, each formed withconfronting ears of flanges GI and 62 respectively, which are connectedtogether by fastening means 63.

The housing 51 is held against rotary movement by means of asubstantially V-shaped brace 64 which is secured to the divergent sidesof the bolster 33 and is secured to the rear flanges of the housing 51by means of a bolt 65.

As shown in Figure 8, the worm gear 45 is formed with bosses 66 at theopposite ends thereof which rotatably project through openings 6! formedin the sides of the housing 51. The rear axle 46 is adapted to berotatably adjusted by means of a worm and Worm gear assembly similar tothat shown in Figure 4 with the assembly encased in a housing 51a whichis held against rotation by means of a bolt 68 which extends through anear 69 carried by a rear frame plate secured to the frame 20. The wormshaft H is substantially longer than the worm shaft 48 and extendsvertically upwardly through a platform 12 secured across the rear of theframe 20 and the shaft H at its upper end extends through a plate 73supported above the platform 12 by a pair of supporting bars 14. Theshaft H at its upper end has secured thereto a hand wheel so that therear axle 40 may be conveniently adjusted by a person standing on theplatform 12.

In the use and operation of this device, the grader is adapted to besecured to the tractor device and the means of attachment for securingthe grader to the tractor may include a drawbar 83 connected to theplate 36 so that the grader may move along a line of travel laterally ofthe travel of the tractor. In this manner the grader may be moved overrelatively soft ground with the tractor on relatively hard ground.

The wheels 82 which are rotatably mounted on the spindle 42 are inclinedto the vertical in a direction whereby the wheels 82 will take up thelateral thrust imposed on the grader by engagement of the scraper blade24 with the ground. As viewed in Figure 2, the scraper blade will beinclined to effect a thrust to the right and the wheels 82 will therebybe inclined upwardly and to the left. Where the thrust is opposite fromthat shown in Figure 2, each axle 26 and 40 is rotated throughsubstantially so that the wheels will be inclined in the oppositedirection. The rotation of axle 26 is effected by rotating operatingmember 53 which will rotate Worm 41 and worm gear 45. The rear axle 40is rotated either clockwise or counter-clockwise in the same manner byrotation of the Worm shaft H by turning of hand wheel 15.

I do not mean to confine myself to the exact details of constructionherein disclosed, but claim all variations falling within the purview ofthe appended claim.

I claim:

A road grader comprising, a frame. a yoke rotatably carried by saidframe, a scraping blade carried by said frame, a front axle carried bysaid yoke, a rear axle carried by said frame, bearings rotatablysupporting said axles adjacent the opposite ends thereof, a worm gearnonrotatably mounted on the center of each axle, a housing surroundingsaid worm gear, a worm ,ournalled in said housing meshing with said wormgear, means for holding each housing in a selected position relative tosaid frame, one of said means comprising a V-brace having its endssecured to opposite intermediate portions of the legs of said yoke, abolt carried by said housing extending through the apex of said brace,means threadably engaging said brace and movable therealong forconnecting said bolt to said brace, the other of said means comprising abearing bracket bolted on said frame, complementary threaded aperturedflanges formed on said sec ond housing, means for adjustably holdingsaid last mentioned means against rotation comprising a bolt extendingthrough said apertured flanges and said bracket, means comprising handwheels remote from each of said worms, for selectively rotating eachwarm to rotate its associated axle, brackets carried by each end of eachaxle, the brackets at the opposite ends of each axle being inclined inthe same plane at equal opposite inclinations, spindles fixedly securedin each bracket and wheels carried by each spindle, whereby each pair ofwheels may be inclined in either direction in both vertical andhorizontal planes independently of the other pair.

EDWARD C. GLEDHILL.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 853,614 Adams May 14, 19071,369,291 Milne Feb. 22, 1921

